'Real Housewives' star makes prison her new home

A police officer walks near a truck carrying children from the home of Teresa Giudice, a cast member of “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” on Monday. Giudice has begun serving a 15-month sentence in federal prison.(Photo: AP Photo/Mel Evans)

DANBURY, Conn. – One of New Jersey's "Real Housewives" has gone to the big house.

Teresa Giudice entered a federal prison in Danbury, Conn., on Monday, a spokesman for the Federal Correctional Institution confirmed.

Giudice pleaded guilty last year to a federal indictment and is serving a 15-month sentence for bankruptcy fraud.

"Teresa's only concern is and has been that of her four children," her attorney, James Leonard, said in an email. "I know that she was anxious to get in and get this entire nightmare behind her so that she can return home to her family."

Her husband, Giuseppe "Joe" Giudice, will start his 41-month sentence on similar charges when Teresa Giudice is released. The couple have four daughters.

They pleaded guilty last year to hiding assets from bankruptcy creditors and submitting phony loan applications to get some $5 million in mortgages and construction loans.

Joe Giudice also pleaded guilty to failing to pay taxes totaling more than $200,000.

At the Giudices' sentencing in October, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas criticized the couple for not disclosing all of their assets as required under their plea agreement, calling it "the same pattern of obstruction, concealment and manipulation as they showed in the bankruptcy case."

Still, Salas sentenced Teresa Giudice to a sentence below the range sought by the U.S. Attorney's Office and staggered her sentence with her husband's so they wouldn't be in prison at the same time and be unable to care for their four daughters.

Joe Giudice is not an American citizen, and he faces an immigration hearing when he completes his sentence; it's expected that he will be deported. His attorney has said Giudice came to the U.S. as an infant and didn't know he wasn't an American citizen until he was an adult.

Joe Giudice also pleaded guilty in state court in October to unlawful use of identification in a case involving a bogus driver's license. His 18-month sentence will run concurrent with his federal sentence.